Golden bandicoot

Isoodon auratus

Blamed on cats

IUCN status: Vulnerable

EPBC Threat Rating: Moderate

IUCN claim: “The reasons for past declines of the golden bandicoot are predation by feral cats and red foxes”

Studies in support

Cats were the main predator of a group of reintroduced, predator-inexperienced bandicoots (Blythman et al. 2020). Cats also predated on another reintroduced group (Christensen & Burrows 1995) and on locally-born bandicoots (Wysong 2016; Doherty et al. 2017). Bandicoots were last confirmed in the Nullarbor 37 years after cats arrived (Wallach et al. 202X).

Studies not in support

Cat breached fence of semi-captive bandicoot enclosure, none were hunted in 5 weeks (from Moseby et al. 2015). Bandicoots were last confirmed in NSW 18 years before cats arrived (Wallach et al. 202X).

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies linking cats to golden bandicoot populations. The fate of reintroduced animals is not a reliable proxy for the fate of populations. In contradiction with the claim the extirpation record from NSW pre-dates the cat arrival record.

Evidence linking Isoodon auratus to cats. A. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Isoodon auratus and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Isoodon auratus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. B. Last records of extirpated populations relative to earliest local records of cats. Error bars show record uncertainty range. Predator arrival records were digitized from Abbott 2008.

References

Abbott, The spread of the cat, Felis catus, in Australia: re-examination of the current conceptual model with additional information. Conservation Science Western Australia 7 (2008).

Blythman, Mark, et al. “Translocation of golden bandicoots, Isoodon auratus barrowensis, from a fenced enclosure to unfenced managed land on Matuwa (formally Lorna Glen) in September 2015.” (2020)

Christensen, P., and N. Burrows. “Project desert dreaming: experimental reintroduction of mammals to the Gibson Desert, Western Australia.” Reintroduction Biology of Australian and New Zealand Fauna’.(Ed. M. Serena.) pp (1995): 199-207.

Doherty, T.S., Dickman, C.R., Johnson, C.N., Legge, S.M., Ritchie, E.G., and Woinarski, J.C.Z. (2017) Impacts and management of feral cats Felis catus in Australia. Mammal Review. 47 (2) 83-97; which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12080

EPBC. (2015) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of Environment, Government of Australia. (Table A1).

Moseby, K.E., Peacock, D.E. and Read, J.L., 2015. Catastrophic cat predation: a call for predator profiling in wildlife protection programs. Biological Conservation, 191, pp.331-340.

Wallach et al. 2023 In Submission

Wysong ML. 2016. Predator ecology in the arid rangelands of Western Australia: spatial interactions and resource competition between an apex predator, the dingo Canis dingo, and an introduced mesopredator, the feral cat Felis catus. PhD thesis, University of Western Australia, Perth.